The 11 Best Songs By Against Me!

Against Me! has never shied away from being controversial.  They have always belted out rebellious punk anthems with a military swagger and a thumping musical heartbeat.  They played with such ferocity that there was no doubt there was an inner turmoil propelling the band's emotional energy.  Since the last album (White Crosses), the band has made a bold, yet, once again controversial decision.  This is a decision that has tipped their fan base upside-down with confusion and anger.  Just as many fans have embraced this change as those who have turned their backs on them.  It's as if the fan's connection with the music would be tarnished because of the the band's personal choices.  As if the music would have less meaning because it was made under different circumstances.  Some believe their choice leaves them lacking credibility while others have praised their bold statement.

I'm of course talking about the band's choice to leave Sire records and self-produce their new album.  It's a big shift for a band with such a heavy legacy.  But the same intense criticism was hurled their way when the band originally signed with a record label.  Their fans at the time accused them of being sell-outs.  But the band persevered, which they will absolutely do again. They accomplish this by authentic at all costs, because nothing makes you a better artist than being your "true" self. 

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Against Me!:

1. I Was A Teenage Anarchist (White Crosses)
2. Cliche Guevara (As The Eternal Cowboy)
3. New Wave (New Wave)
4. Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners (Searching For A Former Clarity)
5. White Crosses (White Crosses)
6. Thrash Unreal (New Wave)
7. White People for Peace (New Wave)
8. Mutiny On The Electric Bay (As The Eternal Cowboy)
9. Stop! (New Wave)
10. Justin (Searching For A Former Clarity)
11. Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart (New Wave)

Buy Against Me!'s new album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues...now!!

The 11 Best Songs By Bruce Springsteen of the 00s

In the AFC playoffs, it's Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady.  Whether you love them or hate them, they are two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.  And the winner of the game, will go to the Super Bowl, which will take place in New Jersey...the home town of none other than Bruce Springsteen...they greatest of his game.

There are good artists and there are great artists. And then there are legends.  There are artists who define genres and there are artists who make up their own.  This list is from our book, The 111 Best Music Lists of the 2000s.  In the 2000s, Bruce created The Rising, an album that might have even been bigger than him.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Music-Lists-2000s/dp/1491249129/

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There are certain albums in a band's career that are above comparison.  For me, these include The Cure's Disintegration, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and Pearl Jam's Ten.  Each of these artists put out plenty of great music over their careers but these specific albums are their zeniths of perfection.  Bruce Springsteen's The Rising also belongs in this category.  That may be surprising considering the monumental albums that the Boss has delivered in his career: Born To Run, Born in the USA, and Darkness on the Edge of Town.  Each great.  But, The Rising was something else.  The Rising was a moment in time.  America was reeling from post-traumatic 9/11 confusion.  We did not know how we felt and we did not know how to feel.  We needed Bruce.  So, Bruce Springsteen put out an album of catharsis that expressed America’s emotional turmoil.  Everything that we had bottled up, he let out.  He did not shy away from hurt, from pain, or from anger.  Musically, it soared.  Lyrically, it was grounded.  There has never been any other rock album that captured a moment in American history so perfectly.  How can you compare his other music to this?  You can't.  Bruce has made some of the best rock songs of all time.  He has made some of the best rock albums of all time.  The Rising was bigger than all of it.  It was the heart and soul of America set to music.  Because of this, I did not include any songs from the The Rising in this list... if I had, it would not have been fair. 

The 11 Best Songs By Bruce Springsteen of the 200s (not including songs from The Rising): 

1. 41 Shots (Live in New York City)
2. The Hitter (Devils + Dust)
3. Eyes on the Prize (We Shall Overcome)
4. Magic (Magic)
5. Outlaw Pete (Working on A Dream)
6. Radio Nowhere (Magic)
7. Devils + Dust (Devils + Dust)
8. Last To Die (Magic)
9. The Wrestler (Working on A Dream)
10. All The Way Home (Devils + Dust)
11. Life Itself (Working on A Dream) 

Fun Fact: Initially, Bruce hated being called "The Boss."

Buy Bruce's new album, High Hopes...now!

The 11 Best Songs By The Crystal Method

Justin Bieber is now at the center of a illegal drug raid.  In three short year's, he's gone from Ellen's squeaky clean best friend to Vanilla Ice's bitch.  It's not surprising.  It's the same path that almost all child stars take, yet every single one of them thinks it won't happen to them.  Even when they're given warnings by people with the best intentions (Miley Cyrus and Sinead O'Conner), they ignore them with a turned up nose.  And as much as we cringe at the thought of musicians using drugs, as Bill Hicks says, every great rock n roll album that we love...the musicians were real fucking high making them. But I guess the difference between artists who use the drugs to open their minds and Justin Bieber's probably usage, is that the the classic artists used drugs to achieve greatness and Bieber uses because he perceives greatness.  Maybe to prevent this from happening again and again...our music artists should be trained how to use drugs properly.  If we can't stop them from taking them...we might as well help them do it right.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Crystal Method:

1. Glass Breaker (London)
2. Comin' Back (Vegas)
3. Slipstream (Divided By Night)
4. Black Rainbows (Divided By Night)
5. Kling To The Wreckage (Divided By Night)
6. Jaded (Vegas)
7. Falling Hard (Divided By Night)
8. Drown In The Now (Divided By Night)
9. Starting Over (Legion of Boom)
10. Don't Stop (Drive: Nike + Original Run)
11. I Know It's You (Legion of Boom)

Buy The Crystal Method's self-titled new album...now!!

The 111 Best Albums of 2013

Here it is, the 111 best albums of 2013...as voted on by YOU.  If you don't like the list...change your listening habits.  Have a great 2014.

1. Arctic Monkeys - AM
2. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
3. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
4. The Arcade Fire - Reflektor
5. Kanye West - Yeezus
6. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
7. Haim - Days Are Gone
8. David Bowie - The Next Day
9. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
10. CHVRCHES - Bones of What You Believe
11. Foals - Holy Fire
12. My Bloody Valentine - m b v
13. Paul McCartney - New
14. Burial - River Dealer
15. Phoenix - Bankrupt!
16. Lorde - Pure Heroine
17. The Strokes - Comedown Machine
18. Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork…
19. Okkervil River - The Silver Gymnasium
20. Said The Whale - Hawaii
21. Danny Brown - Old
22. Phosphorescent - Muchacho
23. Volcano Choir - Repave
24. Empire of the Sun - Ice on the Dune
25. The Field - Cupid’s Head
26. Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors
27. White Lies - Big TV
28. A$AP Rocky - Long Live A$AP
29. Sky Ferreira - Night Time My Time
30. Drake - Nothing Was The Same
31. Savages - Silence Yourself
32. Olafur Arnalds - For Now I Am Winter
33. James Blake - Overgrown
34. Deerhunter - Monomania
35. Paramore - Paramore
36. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
37. Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart
38. Local Natives - Hummingbird
39. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
40. Peace - In Love
41. Small Black - Limits of Desire
42. Superchunk - I Hate Music
43. Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In
44. Disclosure - Settle
45. The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars
46. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap
47. Charli XCX - True Romance
48. Mikal Cronin - MCII
49. Fall Out Boy - Save Rock N Roll
50. Atoms for Peace - Amok
51. The Naked And Famous - In Rolling Waves
52. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
53. Sleigh Bells - Bitter Rivals
54. Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
55. Skylar Grey - Don’t Look Down
56. Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love
57. Nils Frahm - Spaces
58. Cayucas - Bigfoot
59. Eels - Wonderful Glorious
60. Everything Everything - Arc
61. Front Bottoms - Talon of the Hawk
62. Kisses - Kids in LA
63. King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
64. John Moreland - In The Throes
65. The O’s - Thunderdog
66. Panthu Du Prince and Bell Laboratory - Elements of Light
67. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - S/T
68. Calexico - Spiritoso
69. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Made Up Mind
70. Lonely Forest - Adding Up The Wasted Hours
71. Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve
72. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
73. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get
74. Avicii - True
75. Beyonce - Beyonce
76. Bill Callahan - Dream River
77. M.I.A. - Matangi
78. Hookworms - Pearl Mystics
79. Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action
80. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
81. The Beatles - On The BBC Volume 2
82. The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
83. J. Cole - Born Sinner
84. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
85. Shearwater - Fellow Travelers
86. Gov’t Mule - Shout!
87. The Deer Tracks - The Archer Trilogy Pt 3
88. Deafheaven - Sunbather
89. Yo La Tengo - Fade
90. Tegan & Sara - Heartthrob
91. New Order - Lost Sirens
92. Eisley -  Currents
93. Panic! At The Disco - Too Weird To Live,Too Rare To Die!
94. Half Moon Run - Dark Eyes
95. Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe
96. Jay-Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail
97. Juliana Barwick - Nepenthe
98. The Lone Below - The Lone Below
99. Lanterns on the Lake - Until The Colours Run
100. Renaissance - Grandine Il Vento
101. Patty Griffin - American Kid
102. Bells> - Fundamentals
103. Anna Calvi - One Breath 
104. Leagues - You Belong Here 
105. Night Beds - Country Sleep 
106. Hiss Golden Messenger - HAW 
107. Lights - Siberia 
108. Daughter - If You Leave 
109. Air Marshal Landing - You Used To Be Me 
110. Austin Lucas - Stay Reckless 
111. Tom Morgan - Orange Syringe 

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella by day...

Incredible line-up this year.  Impossible to do one list for the whole festival...so here's three lists! One for each day.  These are by no means the only good bands playing, just the ones that I'm most excited about.  And Saturday is easily the most packed day.

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Friday:

1. Outkast
2. Girl Talk
3. Broken Bells
4. The Replacements
5. HAIM
6. A$AP Ferg
7. Ellie Goulding
8. Waxahatchee
9. Bryan Ferry
10. Grouplove
11. Zedd

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Saturday:

1. Foster The People
2. Empire Of The Sun
3. Cage The Elephant
4. Nas
5. Muse
6. Pet Shop Boys
7. Skrillex
8. MGMT
9. CHVRCHES
10. Blood Orange
11. The Head and The Heart

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Sunday:

1. Arcade Fire
2. Neutral Milk Hotel
3. Beck
4. Superchunk
5. Lana Del Rey
6. STRFKR
7. Calvin Harris 
8. Disclosure
9. Preservation Hall Jazz Band
10. Chance The Rapper
11. Bad Manners

The 11 Best Song By Stephen Malkmus

 This is the first "best of" list of 2014.  To kick things off there's a little self-promotion for myself and my book.  If you haven't picked it up...get it on Amazon here and Kindle here.  Only .99 cent on Kindle!  That's cheaper than a stamp...well two stamps.

In honor of our first list, here's the Stephen Malkmus chapter from the book.

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After spending the '90s fronting the indie rock sensation Pavement, Stephen Malkmus could have hung up his golden vocal chords and lived out the rest of his life as an asparagus farmer in Stockton.  He didn’t.  He went solo.  Though rabid anticipation surrounded his debut release, there was a lingering feeling that there was no way Stephen could match his previous musical apex without his former band mates.  When  Malkmus released his debut solo album, the critics were blown away. Not only did the album exceed expectations, many thought it was the best material Malkmus had done since Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.  Talent and creativity of this level are not found on a game show.  Malkmus may have only broken into the mainstream for one brief millisecond with Pavement’s "Cut Your Hair" but twenty years into the game, he is still putting out critic-proof material and musical masterpieces.  Take that, Jonas Brothers.

Fun Facts:  Stephen Malkmus was a college radio DJ at the University of Virginia, along with David Berman of the Silver Jews and James McNew of Yo La Tengo.

The 11 Best Tracks By Stephen Malkmus:

1. Jo Jo’s Jacket (Stephen Malkmus)
2. Phantasies (Stephen Malkmus)
3. Freeze The Saints (Face The Truth)
4. Dynamic Calories (Dark Wave EP)
5. We Can’t Help You (Real Emotional Trash)
6. The Hook (Stephen Malkmus)
7. Ramp of Death (Pig Lib)
8. Jenny & the Ess-Dog (Stephen Malkmus)
9. Real Emotional Trash (Real Emotional Trash)
10. Fractions & Feelings (Dark Wave EP)
11. Discretion Grove (Stephen Malkmus)

Buy Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' new album, Wigout at Jagbags...now!

The 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Winter 2014

 

 Tonight, Florida State beat Auburn in the last BS (I mean BCS...actually, I really do mean bullshit) NCAA football championship game.  In 2014, we get the first ever college football playoff.  It's only 4 teams...but it's a start.  But college football isn't the only thing we have to look forward to.  Here's a look at the best new releases of the next three months.

The 11 Most Anticipated Albums of Winter 2014:

1. Broken Bells - After The Disco (Feb 4)
2. Beck - Morning Phase (Feb 25)
3. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Jan 21)
4. Young the Giant - Mind Over Matter (Jan 21)
5. Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans (Mar 4)
6. The Crystal Method - The Crystal Method (Jan 14)
7. Cibo Matto - Hotel Valentine (Feb 11)
8. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Wig Out at Jagbags (Jan 7)
9. Warpaint - Warpaint (Jan 21)
10. Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes (Jan 14)
11. Johnny Cash - Out Among The Stars (Mar 25)